


With a little help from my friend

by mickandsleepyface



Series: Shuffle [2]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 05:08:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4047226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mickandsleepyface/pseuds/mickandsleepyface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mickey and Debbie keep in touch.</p>
<p>Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBDF04fQKtQ</p>
            </blockquote>





	With a little help from my friend

**Author's Note:**

> The series "Shuffle" contains oneshots inspired by a single song, set in different universes and at different times.  
> If you want to suggest a song pleaso do so in the comments.
> 
> Also a huge thank you to Nuria, Enne on here, for correcting this and giving me feedback.

_What do I do when my love is away?_

_(Does it worry you to be alone?)_

_How do I feel by the end of the day?_

_(Are you sad because you're on your own?)_

_No, I get by with a little help from my friends_

_Mm, get high with a little help from my friends_

_Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends_

  

It was a busy day in the Gallagher house. There were a lot of people running around. It was early spring and Fiona decided to invite everyone over for a half house half garden party. Veronica and Kevin came with their twins, Liam invited two of his friends and Sean was there with his son.

 

Ian was sitting on the steps to the garden and watched Debbie running around with Liam and his friends playing catch. She had tossed him her phone so it wouldn’t fall out of her pants while running. He had a cigarette between his lips and enjoyed the fleeting sense of calmness that came with it.

 

The last months had been hard on him. He had started treatment again after a very bad episode. He was on meds now. And in the beginning he had still hated it, he had still felt numb, but every time he wanted to get off he remembered Mickey’s face when he broke up with him and the really bad episode that had followed. So he stayed on the meds and after weeks of try and error they had found a mix that worked for now.

 

He was still tired a lot, one of the side effects that would probably take the longest to fade. So he enjoyed just sitting here on the steps, watching his siblings running around. His thoughts drifted to Mickey again though and he sighed. He knew he had fucked that up. Even though he knew why he broke it off at the time and in retrospect still thought it was kind of important for him to make it on his own, he also realized how important Mickey was to him, how he made him complete. And he missed him, every minute of every fucking day. He had tried to talk to him once but Mickey had cursed him off. Ian couldn’t blame him and he had left him alone, needing all the strength to stay on the meds and he realized it was too soon to try to mend things.

 

He was jerked out of his thoughts when one of the phones on his lap started to vibrate. He looked down and grabbed the one who was violating his silence. It was Debbie’s and he hadn’t planned on looking at the screen, but it somehow caught his eye and he froze. There was an incoming message popping up coming from “Mickey”. He immediately felt his heartbeat go faster. But then he frowned, why the fuck would Debbie be messaging with Mickey? They weren’t friends. He hadn’t been at the Gallagher’s in almost six months.

 

Ian stood up and walked over to Debbie waving the cellphone in front of her. He glared at her, anger rising up he didn’t knew he had. “Why the fuck is Mickey texting you?”

 

Debbie froze and ignored Liam who ran into her. “What?” she asked but she clearly was just baiting for time. “He…what?”

Ian shook his head. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Debbie. I know Mickey. He wouldn’t just text you now out of the blue. How long has this been going on?”

Debbie sighed. “Can we go inside to talk about this?”

 

Ian shrugged and Debbie grabbed her phone, walking in front of Ian up the stairs and into the house.

 

She sat down on the couch and Ian on the table in front of her. He raised his eyebrows. “So?”

Debbie sighed heavily and bit her lip. “I promised him not to tell you. Please don’t be mad.”

Ian shook his head again. “Why the fuck would he do that? What is going on? Are you two…what…friends now or what?”

He furrowed his brows, trying to wrap his head around it.

Debbie shrugged. “Sort of, I guess. It started with Sammi,” she started to tell the story and Ian listened to her concentrated.

 

“You know the Sammi story. Well, when she tried to shoot him I snatched his number from your phone to check up on him. It was our plan after all and Sammi was only going after him. So I texted him to ask how he was doing. I didn’t know you guys had broken up. Well, he answered that all Gallaghers can go to hell and I can fuck off.”

 

Ian couldn’t help but smile at that. “Well, at least he answered you,” he said.

 

“Yeah.” Debbie grinned. “But he didn’t know me very well, so I wrote back that we are not all the same and that Sammi is not a Gallagher. Well, it went back and forth until I finally got what happened out of him. And it wasn’t all in one go; it was over a lot of days. Well, but when I got it I tried to be comforting to both of you, but you know, you weren’t in the state to be comforted and Mickey, well, he is Mickey. So I stopped texting him. But then I got a text from him, about 2 months after you guys broke up, you just started going on meds again and it was a mess. He texted me and asked how things were, but I knew what he meant by things.” She smiled at him and Ian couldn’t help but bite his lip hard. Fuck, even after all the shit Mickey had still asked about him.

 

“So, I hesitated, believe me, because we stick together, right? But I thought, well, what’s the harm in telling him the latest news, right? So I wrote him how you were, what happened and I just kind of kept him updated from then on. We’re not really friends; it’s all about you, Ian.”

 

Ian didn’t realize how much this story affected him. He swallowed hard and even bit back some tears.

“I fucked up, Debbie,” he choked out.

 

But to his surprise she shook her head. “I don’t think you did. I think he will always care about you. He was really pissed and hurt but he still asked about you, again and again.”

 

Ian stood up and wanted to walk away but found himself saying, “I don’t know how to fix this, Debs.” He walked away before Debbie could respond.

 

Debbie watched him go and then at her cellphone.

She read the text that started all this. _“If he is still tired all the time, maybe he should start running again. At least then he knows where it comes from.”_

 

Debbie smiled. Mickey was so good at this, finding ways to make Ian feel better. And somehow she knew they would work it out, one way or the other.

 

 

**2 years later**

 

It was the traditional “Welcome summer” party at the Gallagher’s. Everybody was outside, sitting on the stairs, swimming in the pool, Lip and Kev had the grill going. Carl had brought his girl of the month and Fiona her man of the month and everybody was in a very good mood.

 

Ian was sitting on the stairs again, eyes closed, enjoying the sun. He jerked up by a nudge on his shoulder. “Hey,” Fiona said, “no sleeping. Where’s Mickey? He was supposed to bring more beer.”

Ian grinned and shrugged his shoulder. “Don’t really know. But if I had to guess I would say he’s….” Ian was cut off by Mickey and Debbie coming round the corner, laughing, “…somewhere with Debbie,” Ian finished with an eyebrow raise.

Debbie and Mickey came over to them and Mickey leaned down to give Ian a quick kiss.

Fiona bumped against Mickey’s shoulder, raised her eyebrows and asked, “Beer?”

“Oh fuck,” Mickey answered. “I totally forgot, but no problem, I’ll go get it right now.”

Ian sighed and got up from the stairs. “If it wasn’t my sister who made you forget everything else, I would totally be so jealous right now… I’ll come with, let’s go.”

 

Ian and Mickey walked down the sidewalk towards the Milkovich house. Mickey bumped against Ian’s shoulder, but Ian frowned. Mickey laughed. “Seriously? You are still mopey about that? It’s been years now, man.”

Ian huffed. “Yeah, well, I know that and I know you two are like best friends ever since that or whatever, but it’s still a bit weird for me. Who knows what you talk to her about…”

Mickey shook his head in amusement. “We had this talk like a hundred times already, Ian. I don’t trust her more than I trust you. She is not my number one Gallagher. It’s just different. It’s just like you and…”

“….Mandy,” Ian finished the sentence for him. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

They reached the Milkovich house and found it empty when they got inside. Ian plopped down on the couch while Mickey went out back and got the beer.

He plopped down beside him when he got back in and bumped against his shoulder.

“You know, when she came over to my house two years ago, after you saw my text and after you tried to talk to me, she was so fucking fierce. Told me to cut the crap and let you explain. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her.”

Ian sighed. He knew all that and yes he was very thankful, but he couldn’t help that he was jealous when he saw them together. They were a little unit now, fiercely protective of each other and loyal. Just like he once was with Mickey, way back then. Now they were a powercouple, like V liked to call them. He knew they were doing great and he had nothing to complain about actually. But they were very open now. It didn’t matter anymore who was there when they kissed. They kind of lost their bubble and sometimes Ian missed that, especially when he saw the bubble around Mickey and Debbie. But he knew he couldn’t tell Mickey that. He didn’t know how and he knew Mickey would be worried that Ian wasn’t happy with the relationship.

Mickey leaned over to him now, cupping his face and his lips hovering over Ian’s.

“Hey,” Mickey said softly. “You are my number one. Just you and me till the end, right?”

Ian looked him in the eyes and his hand sneaked up in Mickey’s hair. “Yeah,” he whispered, “just you and me.”

And there it was: on the old couch in the Milkovich house, where so much shit had happened, when Mickey closed that gap between them and kissed him softly, Ian felt the bubble again. And the bubble felt good and new, like a constant in his life and he knew with a crushing certainty that this new bubble was one that would never burst.

**Author's Note:**

> come find me and talk to me at mickandsleepyface.tumblr.com


End file.
